The future of the U.S. looks dark...

[Roger Triton]

with this guy leading the Republicans in the polls


I don't like Obama's policies, but atleast he's trying.
Mitt would lay off half a city if it made him a buck.
I don't trust Mitt Romney.

[Slidikins]

I don't trust Mitt Romney.

I don't trust politicians. At least the politicians in the current environment. This is a topic I discuss often, but I don't think PSOW is the right forum for it, so I'm going to be short.

America is definitely headed for some dark times, which is probably a good thing. Democracy (and especially the US' representative democracy) needs to be nurtured with revolution from time to time or the people lose their voice. Right now the people have lost their voice. Our representatives don't fight for us and instead look out for numero uno - themselves.

Obama. Romney. Paul. It doesn't really matter all too much who we label Head of State (and that's scary). It's not the executive branch that's leading the US downhill, it's the legislative branch. The House and the Senate do not represent the people and can't be reined in easily. Revolution is probably the likely answer.

OWS is the start... and largely ineffective. Protests will eventually escalate and in time people will either start caring about their government and voting appropriately or the system will be overhauled. Either that or we just all except being sheep.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world will most definitely be affected by whatever happens here.

At least that's how I see things.

[BIG OLAF]

Revolution is probably the likely answer.

This. Corruption is seeded far too deeply in Americas system. The only way to truly get back on track is physical action. Voting for scumbags with a "D", "R", or "I" next to their names will do nothing. If someone starts it, I'd gladly join in.

[Randomness]

Revolution is probably the likely answer.

Yes, because widespread bloodshed is the correct response to a government that has the occasional scandal of corruption.

Certainly DC has it's share of underhanded deals and the like going on, but it's nowhere near the point where violence is the only answer. Go read the Declaration of Independence. Specifically, the nice long list in it. Can you honestly write something like that regarding the current government? You don't have anything remotely approaching grounds for revolution.

[Slidikins]

I wasn't aware of the fact that "revolution" implies widespread violence. I meant it in the literal definition of overthrowing the government. I'm not going to lie and say it can be done without bloodshed, but it doesn't have to be the Revolutionary War all over again.

Congress has an abyssmal approval rating right now. Everyone wants it to change, but they write the laws and have been protecting themselves with them for quite awhile. NDAA makes it all too easy to put away those who dissent, as one example.

Bleh, I was going to write more but cell phone typing is giving me cramps. Maybe I'll complete my thoughts later.

[Randomness]

Please. Don't kid yourself.

The only possible revolution under the constitution is a violent one.

Anything else is something we normally call an election.

[Sinue_v2]

The only decent republican candidate this time around was Mike Huntsman. I disagreed with many of his positions and policies, but at least he seemed somewhat rational, willing to work across the isle, and didn't treat science (especially climate change and evolution) like abstract ideological positions to be resisted for the sake of sticking it to the liberals.

Of course, as such, he was trailing the primaries by a large margin and had to drop out early.

As for revolutions, what we're seeing now is largely the American people reaping what they sow. Politics is highly sensitive and responsive to public perception, despite what it may seem like on the individual level. The disconnect between the people and the politicians is largely an artifact of the scaling issue between personal perception and widespread social aggregates of perception. The tyranny of the masses in full effect. The corruption largely comes from the financial aspect of the campaigning leviathan, and one that could easily be remedied without revolution.

So I would reject revolution by the people, partly because they are in part the reason why we're in this mess, and partly because the American Revolution seems to have been an outlier. When looking back in history, it seems that most revolutions tend to end in tyranny. I don't think that America is in such bad shape as to take that kind of risk. Especially in a time when the ideals of the enlightenment are either largely forgotten (in context or in whole) or are under attack.

[Randomness]

Essentially, the entire population can disagree with a significant amount of what the government is doing while everything the government is doing is supported by a majority of the population. Funny, that.

[NoiseHERO]

Ah man, a revolution?

War is hell.

But at least we get to hang out with people that run gun shops.

Like those ones in grand theft auto.

[Zyrusticae]

Well, to really fix our political system we would have to make bribery (and let's be honest here, "political contributions", "lobbying", all that shit is just legalized bribery) illegal again, and, well, as long as the guys making the laws are still being paid off, that ain't happening.

So I don't know, man. What are people supposed to do about that?